Varna Court of Appeal decided to accept the regional court's decision for the extradition of five Bulgarians to France who were previously accused of forcing Bulgarian women into prostitution.

The five Bulgarians were detained in Varna on May 27, 2007 on request of the regional court in French Lyon.

According to accusations the five Bulgarians are part of an organised group which forced Bulgarian women from the northeastern part of the country into prostitution. Criminal activity has been committed on the territory of Lyon.

According to EU regulations, suspects are put on trial in the city where they committed the crime.

French authorities have been investigating the case for a year. In the past 10 months they co-operated with Bulgarian border police. They proved that bank transfers worth hundreds of thousands of euro resulted from the criminal activity of the group.

Investigation in Lyon is still in progress. Afterwards the accused will be put on trial. If found guilty, the pimps will be returned to Bulgaria where they will have to serve the sentence.